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a missional church network

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Archives for September 2016

September 29, 2016 by Bob Hyatt

From the Field: An update From Albuquerque- Jesse & Joanna Harden

 

This time last year my wife and I were attending Ecclesia’s Genesis Church Planters Training in Chicago, Illinois, attempting to soak up every ounce of information presented to us. We were discerning a growing sense of call to plant a church in a community full of people and experiences very different from our own.

Today, one year later, marks our third month on the ground in Albuquerque’s International District, a beautifully diverse, tragically marginalized and wonderfully resilient area of our city. We desire to see a missional community of faith spring up, which we are calling New Creation Albuquerque. We hope to be a people seeking the peace and flourishing of our neighborhood. 25% of our neighbors were born outside of the U.S. and nearly 50% live below the poverty line. It is where people begin when they have nothing or end up when they’ve lost everything.

As we begin our church planting journey, we are sometimes bold, often uncertain and growing ever more dependent on the Holy Spirit for moment by moment discernment. God is on the move and is affirming His call on our lives! He is building the beginnings of beautiful relationships between our families and our neighbors, men, women and children born in America, Vietnam, Laos, Cuba, Africa and Mexico. We have attended a Buddhist festival at the invitation of a monk I met while prayer walking. We have prayed for broken marriages, empty bank accounts and hurting legs and backs. We are seeing God move. And, others are joining us! Three families have moved into the neighborhood to be an intentional presence with us. We have had over 35 adults attend the first 3 of a series of 10 weekly interest meetings. These represent a diverse and gifted group of Jesus’ followers discerning God’s call to join us on mission to the International District. God is moving. We are encouraged and are expectant for what the Holy Spirit is bringing about as we strive to bear faithful witness to Jesus’ Kingdom in this place.

Filed Under: Church Updates, Ecclesia People

September 29, 2016 by Bob Hyatt

Welcome New Ecclesia Member Church The Commons

The Ecclesia board is excited to announce the addition of a new church in San Diego California to our family.  The Commons Church was planted by Jon and Sarah Nichols 4 years ago to be an incarnational presence in San Diego.  The goal of The Commons is be a community conspiring to proclaim the cross, working to cultivate disciples, embracing the oppressed, and inviting others to join the movement.  To get an introduction to The Commons from Jon, check out this video here – http://www.thecommonsforall.com/#videos

 

 

Jon describes The Commons this way, “We are a young non-denominational church with a deep and rooted love for God and our neighborhood. We consider ourselves a family. What holds us together is not ethnicity, education, income, or politics. We are a family because of Jesus and owe Jesus a common allegiance. Christ, his broken body and shed blood, are at the center of all we do together. We each come, bringing our unique stories, to journey life together as a community. It is not about uniformity, but unity, so that together we may live for something bigger than ourselves.”

On joining Ecclesia Jon had this to say, “It was important to me that our church be connected to something greater than ourselves. This desire is rooted in both the longing to be in community with others and our desire to be in submission to others. Therefore, when I found Ecclesia and I began reading and talking to the people from Ecclesia it felt like we were home. Theologically and missiologically, Ecclesia has been what we were looking for. This conviction has been proved over and over again through the last two years by the encouragement and support we have received from Ecclesia.”

 

 

 

 

Here is a message from Jon to our Ecclesia community

 

You can find out more about The Commons at http://www.thecommonsforall.com.

We are excited to have Jon, Sarah, Micah, and Jude part of the Ecclesia family!

 

Filed Under: Church Updates, Ecclesia News

September 29, 2016 by Bob Hyatt

The Spiritual Formation of Leaders: Mid-Atlantic Regional Event October 22, 2016

 

The Spiritual Formation of Leaders:
Mid-Atlantic Regional Event
October 22, 2016
@ Horizon Church 

14 E. Chatsworth Ave
Reisterstown MD 21136
A day long session for your community’s leaders which focuses on helping them gain an understanding of how God forms us, see the strengths they already have, view the challenges in their individual and corporate life through the grid of formation and the skills God would like to build through those challenges, and finally the new strengths/Christlikeness God is working to lead them towards.

We start with some formational prayer, move on to stages of formation as envisioned by Richard Rohr, the difference between the managed life and the forming life and then finally to individual and then corporate strengths/skills assessments as we discover together what God is up to in our midst.

Emphasis on both individual and corporate formation.

“What I appreciated most was having a trusted, objective leader speak into the challenges and opportunities facing our community. Many of the things you shared about spiritual formation fit perfectly with what we’ve been teaching for years, but hearing it from a fresh outside voice lent credibility and weight to the centrality of formation and discipleship in our mission. It was also very affirming to hear someone tell us that our challenges are “good challenges” and to be encouraged that we’re struggling with the right things.”

“Our day of Spiritual Formation with Bob helped our leadership dig some deep wells of character and calling that has generated great discussion and formative practices for us as a community.”

“We appreciated the assistance in instigating a conversation on Friday night about our struggle with transience.  You gave us an outside perspective on our problems and it was useful to know that we are not the only community that struggles with this issue.

On Saturday, I found the tools you introduced to be useful for introspection and to provide a lens for better understanding my own spiritual journey.  Overall, it was just concretely useful; for instance, I have heard several folks in our community repeat the “forming life” question as they process a difficult experience.”

Facilitator: Dr. Bob Hyatt :: Portland, OR

Bob is the founding pastor of The Evergreen Community in Portland, Or. He did his Master’s at Western Seminary and DMin at George Fox Seminary. Bob serves as the Director of Equipping and Spiritual Formation for the Ecclesia Network and is also the co-author (with J.R. Briggs) of Eldership and the Mission of God: Equipping Teams for Faithful Church Leadership and Ministry Mantras: Language for Cultivating Kingdom Culture and the author of A Month with Richard Baxter: Walking with a Puritan Pastor of Pastors Through the Spiritual Formation of Ministry

Register Now!

Filed Under: equippers, spiritual formation

September 29, 2016 by Bob Hyatt

Reflection on Ecclesia's Genesis Church Planters Training- Gary Alloway

I am a straight-A student.  Even though I haven’t been in school for a decade now, that identity remains.  I am one who succeeds, who passes the test, who figures out how to solve the puzzle.  Its one of the things that drew me to church planting.  But the truth about straight-A students is that they are driven just as much by fear of failure than by joy in success.  As much as I relished the idea of starting a successful new church, fear of failure was holding me back.In 2009, I attended the Ecclesia Church Planters Training.  And one of the lessons that I have kept with me since is that it is okay to fail in church planting.  In fact, you can fail in church planting and still be a tremendous success.  In the first session of our week, Bob Hyatt led a section on ‘Why Plant Churches?’ and he said:
“What is failure?  Failure is failing to love those that God brings us, not closing the doors.  Even churches that don’t last were probably great adventures of faith for those involved.  And God loves it when his people take a step of faith.  The greatest failures are the churches that only exist in the mind.”

I have tried to carry that with me ever since.  Are we loving people?  Are we caring for them and enjoying them and showing them the love of God?  If so, we are successful.  And if we have a 1000 people, but no love, we are nothing but a failure.

In 2012, our church nearly closed.  And while the straight-A student in me was dying, I fell back on these words.  In our first 3 years, we had seen God’s love change people.  We had helped neighbors find life, put on a wedding for a homeless couple, and we ourselves had been changed.  The church had not been a failure.  It had been a great adventure of faith.

We pulled through that slump and these days look a little more successful.  But in our successes, I still fall back on those words.  Are we loving people and showing them the love of God?  If not, it is all for naught.  Since 2012, we have planted several house churches and helped start a few ministry ventures.  And every time we start something new, I pass on those words.  Love those in front of you.  If you do this, you will always succeed.

Filed Under: Ecclesia News, Ecclesia People

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